Danielle4

for the cranial nerves...I have a cleaner version. ooo to touch and feel very good velvet ah!

It is good to hear of good nurses like you and nurses who stick together to really help others out.

I agree. I think all of us have our strengths and weaknesses- believe me I have heard some things that I thought were common sense, but I guess they were not. sometimes when you have been in the field a long time maybe you don't realize some things are not common sense afterall. I am not talking about anything in particular just don't want to judge anyone about being stupid. I like reading the funny posts, but at the same time I can understand- not having had kids before myself where a pt may have "silly" questions about certain things you just don't think about till you are in that situation. I cannot imagine what, but I am sure when I have my first one I will. Originally Posted by mariedoreen Part of our role is to educate our patients without judging what we feel they should or should not know. Everyone had to learn what they know at some point, some just learn certain things later than others

Good Luck to you

chemistry I just buddied up with someone in my class and studied every night working problems, etc. It was rough, but it paid off when I got through my upper divisions it was cake because my general chem teacher was so good and studying all those nights really did help. (I only got a B in General chem- studying everynight, but I got that A in Organic chem with barely any studying compared to gen chem.) again good luck. It will pay off in the end becasue you will be done with both of those classes before you know it.

I don't know what your class is like so I don't know if I can give you the best advise. one of those websites was the community college I went to- maricopa :). Anyway we used the martini book too in that class- not my favorite book though. At the university we used Netter and Rohen. I recommend the Netter anatomy book. It is the BEST! I would also recommend either taking photocopies of your pictures in your book or getting a anatomy coloring book- that may help you. I also bought one of those A&P cliff notes books which helped a little because it was small enough to carry around anywhere where I could study during my lunch breaks at work, etc. It really helped me because some of the pages I could copy and put on index cards and study every time I had a few minutes as those fit in my back pocket. Also what helped for me was making an extra copy of my lectures notes to take into the lab with me so I could learn all the material. Overall you just need to spend a little more time in the lab to learn the material. Anyway I hope at least something helped you. I wish you luck! I am sure you will do well this time- you already know how the teachers tests, etc so you have all that info to help you along. Go break a leg. :) (I don't think anyone uses that expression anymore. hehe.

You are not too young at all. I have a sister in law who has been and RN for over 10 years and she is now 32 and looks a lot younger and believe me she demands respect from people. I know a few people that have smarted off to her saying she looks young, but she knows what she is doing so in the end it is a non-issue. I know I look young for my age too and sometimes people comment that, but it has never affected anything that I have done. (My last job in the lab everyone was twice my age and I did not have any problems). It is all attitude! you have to have confidence in yourself. Besides isn't the saying you have to earn respect? Go for your goal. I actually admire people that figure out what they really want to do with their life when they are younger.

osiris55 I am glad to hear that you have decided to consider PA school which will give you another option. I think it is really smart to consider several options. I agree with you 100% when also when you say about being worried about seeing an NP with no supervision. I agree ANY mid-level trying to practice medicine without it is bad news. I don't think a NP/PA should have to carry all that legal strain on them in the long run the doc is the only one that went to med school and they get more paid for it- let them do it. I think NP and PA's are completely capable of handing medical cases and all, but they should have a doctor to consult when needed for sure. It does not hurt to have someone check your charts- the medical field should have tons of checks and balences just like our government. I think it makes the healthcare TEAM better. My doctor employs 3 PAs who all work independantly (all work when she is not in the office) but they all have pagers, etc and can always contact the doctor. I have complete confidence in all my healthcare providers in that respect and I trust them. I also trust them in that if they don't know what to do they will ask the doctor and as a patient I feel I trust them with my life and I feel that a midlevel practitioner owes it to their pts to feel like they can go to a doc if need be. mango-lo-maniac thank you for enlightening us with your knowledge. I was really interested to read your posts. I agree DocBloc is a really nice guy who is very approachable! He is very knowledgable about his field. He even has his doctorate and has done a fellowship that only usually doctors do because he is such a brilliant PA-C. I have not talked to him much but from what I know about him he is genuinely very nice. you should definitely ask him questions if you are interested in pain management.

Nev, PA programs are all about 2 years in length (some of them vary in the number of months- the one I have seen them for 24-26 months for the most part) so the answer to your question is yes. I don't think you get advanced placement as an NP, but I am sure you would be highly appreciated and admired by all of the students for your clinical background and knowledge since those from PA school come from all different clinical backgrounds. Just to let you know though some places will hire a PA or NP for the same position so in some cases they compete for jobs so they are considered both mid level positions. Even though they are very different roles in medicine in some cases they have the same jobs, but not in most cases. I hope that helps you a little. Danielle

Maggie, I know I don't know you, but I am so proud of you!! congratulations!! :balloons: I agree with everyone else you have to search your heart and really figure out what you want to do. I too applied to PA school "just in case" thinking that I would not get in because many of my friends did not get in the first time and they invited me to interview and I was accepted within 2 weeks. I was sort of shocked at first because when I applied it was like an after thought not something I was considering all year and working toward. (I have a really good application lots of med exp, fairly high GPA, etc, but so did all my friends too that did not make it.) I decided to go because I think that it was a sign. I too already have my B.S. and it just makes more sense for me. I am really thinking this is the route for me from shadowing and talking to others about it. Can you do some shadowing of PA's and CRNA's in your area? You should try and find out what a typical day is like in both fields to see what you really want to do. The PA school I applied to also has a new CRNA program as I think more will be appearing around. I wonder if you could talk to a counselor at a school that offers that nursing path and research it before you decline your PA spot. I know what you mean though the stess of the interview, etc seems like a lot to throw away only to do it again. I am sure though if you made it into PA school that you will probably make it into nursing school too with flying colors, but it will take you much longer to do that route as you will have to work your way up. you just have to search yourself and find out what your goals really are. CRNA's do make more than PA's if that is your ultimate goal, but you will also be in the field faster and will start out higher as a PA initially because the nursing route you will have to be an RN for awhile before you can do the CRNA. I think they are both promising careers and I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide. My thought is you will be good at either job no matter which you pick. I have a friend who's husband is a CRNA and he loves his job. She told me thought it was a long process after his RN until he finished school. He went to a really prestigious school and now works at Mayo Clinic which is really a pretigious hospital where I live. I know he makes enough money to support them both and she would not have to work if she did not want to. Then again every PA I have talked to has told me they love their job too. I wish you the best of luck with your decision. Congratulations again!! :balloons: To the poster asking about PA- you may want to see http://www.aapa.org it is a better website to look at as it is the PA official website.

I just bought a PDA (a Tungsten E) and I am just learning how to use it. I want to get a program where I can use it for clinicals and contain information on signs and symptoms and diagnosis drug information. Do you know what kind of program I should get? What do I do? Thanks!

one of the girls I am going to PA school with is an RN and has been a nurse for a long time. I am sure I will be learning a lot of things from her while we are classmates.

It sounds like you are very excited and very organized. I am sure you will do well in school.

Ha ha! some of my lawyer friends say the same thing about people wanting legal advice. My mom is a nurse and she had all the neighborhood kids at her door wanting them to treat them. :)

Thank you Kristinwiz. I agree with you completely!

Congratulations!!!! I am happy for you. Well, it looks like you started school yesterday. I hope things are well for you.

Pat, I really admire you for having done both perspectives as a nurse and as a PA. I would definitely would be one of your patients!

thank you megkirpas! That website made me feel a lot better!!

I love the poem Jabberwokey!! I just cannot believe it. I bet the ER's have a lot of funny stories like that one.

At the hospital I work at a nurse got fired for smarting off to a PA and not taking his order. PA's don't just give orders to give them they are in contact with the doctor so you may be "ignoring" the doctors orders. I am not saying that you don't have the right to question the order, but not taking it just because the person is a PA is just silly. We are all supposed to do our job.

As you probaby guessed I am a PA student. I just had to say something because I don't want anyone degrading the profession I have closen either. I am a student and it sort of hurts my feelings that some of the nurses don't think my profession is a noble one. Anyway, I really admire you nurses that do. Thank you again!

___________________________________________ I just wanted to say thank you to FNP/DNP for recognizing that PA's work hard too as that is not the mood I am getting from this website. I admire all healthcare professions as I have worked as a medical assistant under a doctor and an RN whom I admired for 3 years and I also have worked as a medical technologist in a lab as well and have had a lot of contact with nurses. I also have 2 sister-in-laws who are very good nurses. My mother is also a nurse whom I admire very much. I just wanted to mention that in AZ where I live there are only 2 PA schools and both of them are master's degree programs. I just wanted to get that out so that people would not think that PA's are just assistants they are at the same level with an NP (as far as being considered midlevel). I also agree with anydim in that perhaps PA's do have a strong education and RN's do have strong experience behind them, but both I believe have an important role in medicine. I know I am not trying to compare fields I don't believe that one can compare the two jobs besides the fact they are both midlevel practitioners they are not the same at all. In fact one of them practices medicine and diagnosing and the other doesn't. One of the professions treats patients when they are already sick and the other treats patients and prevents them from getting sick. What I mean to say is they are BOTH important and DIFFERENT fields. It is not an issue of assisting anyone. PA's do not want to be doctors and they don't want to ge NP's they are a career that is separate from both. When I was in school and I got my Bachelors in Biololgy one of the required classes in my school was physics and it was a common weed out course and many of the people at my school went into nursing when they could not pass physics because nursing did not require it. The school I went to is one of the best in the state for nursing so they had their hard classes too I am sure! Please don't miss understand me by thinking that I mean nursing is the easier route, but I wanted to mention this because the whole mood of this forum seems to be degrading the PA and I just wanted to illustrate that the PA route is a hard route too. You all know how hard it is to be a student. PA and NP both start out as students alike and I just wanted to point out that both fields have their difficulties even though they are all different difficulties that they both face. I just wanted also to mention that PA's in the state of AZ are required to do CME's and recertify every 6 years just as NP's do CME's so do PA's. I am not in the medical field to "compete" with anyone. I am in the medical field to help people in the way that I can with what I do best. However, I do think the competativeness sort of a good thing because it forces PA'a and NP's alike to both give the best care to the patient as we both keep each other on our toes! I want to give credit to both professions for that. I also wanted to mention since I feel I have to defend the PA route a little on this website that there are only 2 schools that offer the PA and their are SEVERAL nursing schools so it is really hard to get into PA school as opposed to nursing school in my state. I have 6000 hours of clinical experience, volunteer experience and a high GPA to get into the program and the competativeness of getting into PA school is really difficult. When there are less seats to apply to it makes it harder...not comparing nursing to PA school, but the less people that will make it in makes it competative. If there were more PA schools maybe it would be easier to get in. Mainly I just wanted to mention this in hope that all of you nurses would PLEASE respect the PA's too becasue they deserve it as much as you do! I also wanted to mention. Someone else mentioned that PA have to practice while a doctor is in the building. This is not true a PA has their own patients and it is up to the doctor if he wants to review the charts or not. The doctor can give his PA as much freedom as he feels he wants to and not all PA's have every single chart reviewed. A PA only has to have the ability to contact the doctor by pager, or telephone they do not have to be "in the building". Many PA's function as primary care providers in rural areas as well. I repect both nurses and PA's because I believe they are both important careers in the medical field. I just wish their was not so much anamocity between fields because I know both fields could learn a lot from each other and work really well together. Anyway, again I want the thank all of you nurses who support the PA profession. I admire all of you. Thank you!!!!

Gosh, I am inspired by your words and determination. I wonder how you all do it. I think you are all great nurses. It takes a special person to be a mom.

Gosh, I am inspired by your words and determination. I wonder how you all do it. I think you are all great nurses. It takes a special person to be a mom.

This is the same thing we are studying in my class. It is interesting to read your answers. I am told confidentiality is taken so lighly at the hosptials and patients sign away on forms they have no idea what they are and they are not informed consent at all. How do you declare a person dead? In my class we learned the "higher brain" declaration of dead and the "whole brain" declaration of dead. Basically one is that the patient is still alive even if they are breathing by a breathing machine and others believe if only their brain stem is working- ie breathing and they are not a person anymore then they are dead. how long do you say people should be on life support for? a week? month? year? If they are in a persistant vegitative State and they are never going to regain consciousness isn't that the same as being "Dead?" I thought minors could not make decisions till they were 18 as they do not understand so they would not have complete autonomy. Their parents would make the decisions. Why is it that the advanced directive is always ignored? If that is what the patient wanted it should be more important. I read somewhere that only 30% of advanced directives are even carried out. If they do resusitate couldn't the victim sue? If the family does if the doctor doesn't resusitate isn't that a bad situation either way? That would be a tough decision to make. If they do not follow the advanced directives why bother having one? Tigger100S, I hope you did well on your paper! -Danielle